


You Decide

by jadencross



Series: Dark Voltron [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Graphic Description, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mystery, Near Death Experiences, Post-Season/Series 02, Psychological Torture, Shiro is back tho, Tags will be updated, Theres a lot of bad things kiddies, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-02 08:57:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11506026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadencross/pseuds/jadencross
Summary: It was supposed to be a routine mission. Get in, get out, smash some Galra on the way. They should have known nothing was ever that simple.





	1. Stay Positive

**Author's Note:**

> Lol I have so many unfinished projects that I havent worked on in months. Y'all must hate me lol. 
> 
> Anyway here's the fic that I wrote while I was in Peru. I didnt feel well, so I did what I always do: write my favs into horrible situations. Between arriving here a day late after continuous flight delays, having to suffer through my asthma and the altitude fighting, two throat infections, salmonella, a dislocated ankle, blood sugar issues because my meds weren't working right, and finally bronchitis that landed me in the hospital for 3 days (and also happened simultaneously with the second throat infection) I figured I just needed to vent my frustrations. Ergo, this monstrosity was born. 
> 
> (I was literally only there for a month why does my body hate me so?)
> 
> I tried to make the tags vauge enough for the mystery to extend for the readers but also say enough so that no one gets triggered. I'm going to warn you now tho that this is not gonna be good. If at any point something triggers you PLEASE tell me so that I can tag it for others. The story is important, but I don't want it to be great at the expense of y'all. Ill probs have more specific tags at the beginnings of some of the worse chapters. 
> 
> So sorry, my children, but here it comes. Brace for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this whole fic was written before season 3 was released, so there's nothing about it in here. I did however guess on a few things that will kinda be pieced together as we go on. I had initially intended to post this a few days ago but unfortunately I was held up by a few things and then yesterday my doctor informed me that the reason I have had a headache for over a week is because when I passed out after being released from the hospital for bronchitis I apparently gave myself a concussion and now I have postconcussion syndrome so my mom made me not do anything for a whole day even though I wanted to work on this. But lucky for me today is my birthday so she can't yell at me for enjoying myself lol. 
> 
> I plan to update this fic every week. It's finished, but I'm going back to college soon and things might get crazy so don't expect too much. Now that I've finished this I can finally move on a finish Break a Leg and The Monster and finally start Soulmates. 
> 
> Now that all of that is out of the way here we go!

"Hunk," Lance's voice was firm, "I'm fine. I swear."

Hunk watched Lance's face intently, his eyebrows scrunched up in that way that always made Keith think of a pug. His brown eyes traced the lines of Lance's face, examining every bruise and bump on his skin.

"A bloody nose and hurt leg don't look  _ fine _ to me."

Lance rolled his eyes, sighing dramatically. "There are a lot worse things they could be doing."

Hunk's eyes widened and the larger boy lurched forward, pressing his hand against Lance's lips. Keith didn't miss the slight wince when his hand connected with their friend's blood.

"Don't give them any ideas!"

"He's right, though." Hunk jumped slightly, as if he had forgotten that Keith had been captured with them. Keith ignored the bashful look. "You've seen Shiro. Even after months have passed and we even recovered Matt, he still has severe problems with sleeping. Matt is even worse off."

Hunk's eyes widened, shining slightly in the purple darkness surrounding them. His lower lip began to quiver, and Keith knew immediately he had fucked up.

"Uh," Keith grasped desperately in the dark for something to say to make it better. "I mean..." He drew a blank.

"Keeeeeeeith," Lance whined, voice high pitched as he leaned sideways onto Keith. "We've talked about this. Now isn't the time to be Debby Downer."

"No we haven't?" Keith replied, shrinking slightly to accommodate the other boy's weight.

"Yeah, we did, remember?" Lance shifted slightly so he could look Keith in the eyes. "You aren't supposed to be factual in front of two groups of people: civilians and Hunk."

"Wait that's an actual talk you had?" Hunk leaned forward, looking between the two. The sheen of tears was almost gone.

"No, it wasn't," Keith replied. Immediately he felt the jab of Lance's bony shoulder on his clavicle. He looked up, a retort on his tongue, but when he meet Lance's eyes he stopped. The message was clear.

_ Distract him. _

"Oh wait," Keith said, literally tasting how bad his lie was as he said it, "yeah, we did. I must have forgotten."

Lance seemed satisfied by this answer, as the pressure changed from sharp and hard to gentle and soft.

Hunk must have wanted to play along with them because he accepted Keith's words and rolled with them.

"What else did you guys talk about?" Hunk asked, his panic only slightly masked by his curiosity. "It surely couldn't have been just that."

Lance immediately launched into a story all about how Lance and Keith had snuck out one night on the Balmera to talk about the rules of navigating Hunk. Keith tuned it out pretty quickly, since the whole story was a definite lie. He had a feeling that they would all start doing that while they were here.

Keith let his mind wander and it somehow made its way to yesterday. Or at least Keith figured it was yesterday. There wasn't exactly anything to tell the time with here except the constant rhythm of the sentries as they marched past.

Keith thought it had been an easy mission. The team had split up; Lance, Keith, and Hunk had gone to the planet Yamita to convince them to join the Voltron Alliance while Pidge, Shiro, Matt, and Allura had taken care of other necessary responsibilities. Coran had been left babysitting Kaltenecker and Slav while also running go between for the two teams. 

Keith had wanted to trade with Allura, since politics weren't really his thing, but she had been adamant that at least one of the Black Lion's paladins needed to be present and Shiro was needed elsewhere.

"Besides," she had said, "Lance and Hunk are just as powerful a team when it comes to politics as Coran and myself."

Keith really wished that he had been more forceful, though, or at least had had the forethought to bring Coran with them. Then maybe the gas that knocked the three of them out might not have gotten the Altean, and he may have been able to get some help before their connection to their lions were cut off.

Keith absently rubbed his chest, the emptiness of it bothering him. He had grown so used to feeling Red there, like a fire in his chest. Recently he had become adapted to feeling the steady pulse of the Black Lion, too, her heartbeat steadying his own.

But now he felt neither, and from the way Hunk had panicked and Lance had stared at the wall when they first woke up they couldn't get in touch, either. Keith wanted to know what was keeping him from feeling his lions so he could find it and destroy it. It would be so easy to escape if only Red could sense either him or Lance.

"So then I told the guy not to worry, because forks are only in season in the fall on Earth anyway," Lance laughed, leaning heavier on Keith.

Keith cocked his head, confused.

"But did you tell him about the nightly spoon storm in Hawaii?" Hunk asked in response, his tone so natural that Keith would have believed it was he not from Earth himself. They must have devolved into a lie-off, then.

"You know I completely forgot about that!" Lance said, his voice high with cheer and false horror. "Now the poor guy will have to deal with it until he can get a shack!"

"Better him than me!" Hunk said, laughing loudly.

Lance opened his mouth to say something when the sentries outside stopped. Keith felt Lance tense, his own body going rigid as he prepared for a fight.

The door to the cell swung open, the bright light from the hallway temporarily blinding Keith. He blinked a few times to clear the spots from his eyes before he could see the figure in the doorway.

It was a druid, the long purple robes making Keith taste bile. The empty yet malicious eyes that peered from under the hood felt as if they saw right through him and found him incredibly unimpressive.

Keith clenched his jaw, feeling Lance begin to shake slightly.

On either side of the doorway was a sentry, their guns pointed into the cell at the paladins. Keith twisted, wrapping his arm discreetly around Lance's waist and pulling him closer. Lance had been the first and only one so far to be tortured. Even though the wounds were minor as far as torturing goes, he was still the most heavily injured with a bad leg. If anything was to happen, Lance was at a serious disadvantage.

Keith wanted to even the odds.

The druid paused for a second, watching the three of them as they shrunk into each other. Keith felt Hunk's hand come behind him, reaching for Lances. Lance grabbed on and suddenly Keith was between the two, feeling the heat of their bodies and the trembling of their bones in stereo.

"You," the druid finally said. Keith felt Lance flinch at the word. He followed the finger to find the person. It looked like it was pointing at—

"Me?" Hunk's voice was a squeak.

The druid didn't move. 

One of the sentries did.

It stepped forward with the obnoxious grace that no machine but the lions should have. It let the gun fall to its side in favor of using its other hand to reach for a pair of glowing handcuffs.

Keith tightened his grip on Lance.

They were the same ones they had used yesterday.

Keith felt the terror roll off of Hunk in waves, the shaking of his hands as they were extracted from the group made Keith sick. He watched viciously, hoping that maybe he could light the sentry putting Hunk into handcuffs on fire with willpower alone.

"Hunk," Lance whispered, leaning forward like they could have some privacy even though they all knew they didn't, "you'll be okay. You can do this, buddy."

Keith could practically hear Hunk gulp before he nodded, letting the sentry pull him outside and the door shut behind him.

Keith felt Lance's shaking intensify. He pulled the other boy closer, turning so that Lance was leaning against his chest and both of her arms could protect him.

"After him they're gonna take you, you know." Lance's voice was almost a whisper.

Keith pressed his mouth into Lance's hair. It was something he'd seen Hunk do plenty of times when Lance was sad. He hoped it worked now. 

"It's okay," Keith said, mumbling into his soft hair. "We'll be okay. Shiro and the others are coming for us."

"But how long will that take?" Lance asked.

Keith didn't know how to answer.

* * *

"What do you mean you don't know where they are?!"

Shiro winced at the tone of Pidge's voice, though he tried to keep his face stony as they questioned the Yamitites.

"We're very sorry, young paladin," the High Priest said, looking terrified at having four very angry members of Team Voltron staring him down. "We were discussing our role in the Voltron Alliance when suddenly they just fell to the floor. Before we could do anything a gas was released and we all fell asleep."

"You don't have cameras or guards or anything that could help us identify what happened?" Shiro asked, tone hard.

"The guards fell under the gas as well," the High Priest said. "And our world does not have such capabilities to produce cameras or anything such as that. That was one of the things we were discussing with the Blue Paladin before things went awry."

"Were there any witnesses at all?" Allura asked, her voice the most pleasant out of all of them. If Shiro hadn't been there when Coran had called them all to say that Lance, Keith, and Hunk had gone dark he might not have even known she was upset.

"Unfortunately not," the High Priest replied.

"Wait, your Highness," a tall blue Yamatite spoke up from behind the High Priest. "This morning Kyrjo mentioned that they saw a few Galra ships flying within the atmosphere. Could they have been the culprits?"

"What." The High Priest rounded on the blue Yamatite. 

"Why did you not say something sooner?" Pidge ground out.

"I-I had believed Voltron and the High Priest to have been aware of this information." The Yamatite ducked their head. "Please forgive me."

"If there were Galra ships here not too long ago we should have Coran scan for them," Shiro said, already starting to plan out their next move.

"Those ships have got to be the ones Lance, Keith, and Hunk are on," Pidge added. Shiro could see her doing the same thing.

"We have no more time to waste," Allura said with finality. She looked the High Priest in the eye, her own hard as steel. "We will continue our discussion once we have our team back."

The High Priest nodded, watching the four of them practically run towards their lions.

Shiro booted up Black, hearing Allura asking Coran for the scan. Beside him, Matt placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I hope we find them in time," he said, voice soft.

"We will," Shiro affirmed. He didn't want to think about the damage done to himself or Matt and least of all what happened to Sam. "It'll all be okay."

Matt sent him a look that Shiro didn't have time to decipher as Black rocketed towards the castle.

"I sure hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you guys have noticed but I created a series for my darker works. These are the ones that I probably should feel a little guilty for lol. That thing I said at the end of Geodes is completely blown out of the water now. I think this fic here is the worst one simply because I just needed to vent, man. I'm actually scared of needles now because I was stabbed so many times. Let me die lol. 
> 
> Also sorry about the awkwardness at the beginning. I wrote that while laying in bed filling a bucket with my 8th nosebleed of the day. I tried to fix it a little but its whatever. 
> 
> Anyway, see you next week (hopefully)!


	2. This Won't Break Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to post this chapter a day early because I'm not going to have access to my computer tomorrow as I will be in a different town. Now that I've officially moved in with Erin (Megan isn't here yet) I can get to work on Soulmates, the cute happy fuzzy kitten story lol. 
> 
> So here we go, a day early!

Everything hurt. Hunk had a feeling that each time they were sent in the Galra grew more impatient and hit harder and for longer. He didn't know how many bruises Lance was keeping hidden from him, but Hunk definitely _felt_ more sore than Lance was acting.

Which made the prospect of Keith being taken next all the more horrifying.

"We have to get out before you get taken, Keith," Hunk said, his hands gripping Keith's like a vice. "You can't-"

"Hunk." Keith's voice was calm and steady, a rock for Hunk's emotions to crash against and land on. "I'll be fine. We know from when they took Lance that we can't do anything."

"It'll be fine, buddy." Lance's fingers were shaking as he pried Hunk's vice grip loose. "Keith can handle it just like you and I did."

"But-"

"This is only temporary." Lance looked Hunk dead in the eye, the blue of his eyes like the stormy seas. "Shiro and Pidge and Allura are coming to save us."

Hunk looked to Keith, feeling his warm hand on his shoulder. Keith smiled, and Hunk swallowed his anxiety. He nodded.

The door slid open, the grating of metal on metal as horrible as it had been the last two times. Keith left with little fuss before the door slid shut again and Hunk and Lance were alone.

"Do you think they can find us in time?" Hunk asked after the room had gotten too quiet.

"Of course they can, Hunk." Lance's voice didn't match the confidence in his words. "They always come get us when we need them."

Hunk watched his friend, feeling tired and scared.

"Hey Lance?"

Lance looked up from whatever dark place he was thinking about, curiosity in his gaze. Hunk opened his arms. Lance smiled, scooting the few inches to close the gap. Hunk leaned against the wall, the cool metal soothing on his aching back, Lance's warmth to his front keeping him at the perfect temperature. Hunk nuzzled his face into Lance's hair the way they always did, feeling Lance relax even more against him but being careful of the bruises they now shared.

Hunk breathed deep, taking in the smell of saltwater and flowers that Lance’s hair always gave off. Hunk set his jaw, closing Lance within his arms.

They just had to wait. Allura and Shiro and Pidge and Matt and Coran were all looking for them. They just had to survive until they came to rescue them.

Hunk would make sure they made it.

* * *

 

"Unfortunately, I could not find any Galra ships nearby." Coran said, looking around at the worried Paladins. "They must have entered lightspeed and left long before we could have traced them."

"So you're saying that if we hadn't wasted time without that information then we could already have their location by now," Pidge ground out.

"Now isn't the time to point fingers, Pidge," Matt said. "We need to focus on finding them first."

Pidge grit her teeth. Of course she knew that. That's what she was trying to do. Frustration bubbled up in her chest and she had to choke it down before it suffocated her.

"I can attempt to use the lions to reach them," Allura said, already turning on her heel to head towards the elevators. "It's possible that the Red Lion has not gone after Lance or Keith because they haven't woken up yet. Assuming they're all together, I might be able to use Blue to locate them all."

"Pidge and I will meet you down there," Shiro said. Allura nodded as the door to the Blue Lion slid shut. "Matt and Coran, I need you to stay here and keep scanning. If there are any ships nearby, Galra or otherwise, let us know."

Pidge spun on her heel, heading toward Green's hanger. She could feel the pull of her lion in her chest, the uncertainty getting to them both.

Why wasn't Red up in arms about the whole thing? She always ran after Lance and Keith, even if they weren't necessarily her Paladins that day. If Lance or Allura were the ones in danger Blue was never far behind, either. Hunk had never gotten into enough trouble to warrant Yellow's action, but Pidge was sure that something like this would cause her to smash through any wall possible.

Because of the amount of Paladin swapping that had happened during Shiro's absence, Green should be the only lion left in the hangar. But when her speeder lifted into Green's great head the other four lions were still there.

Pidge's anxiety spiked.

 _Why haven’t the other lions left to find their paladins?_ she asked Green. All she got in response was a feeling of emptiness.

Pidge wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she didn’t have time to decipher it before a gasp escaped Allura.

Suddenly a huge roar slammed Pidge's ears and mind, only a small intervention from Green kept her from seeing stars.

Pidge flicked on the monitors in time to see Allura just getting back to her feet. Blue was no longer sitting calmly, her tail lashing back and forth as snarling filled Pidge's mind.

"Allura," Pidge called, feeling the growls of Red, Black, and Yellow starting to rise in the back of her mind, "what happened?"

On the monitor, she could see Allura shaking her head. "I don't know. It feels like there's some sort of interference."

"Interference?" Pidge could hear Shiro trying to control Black's voice in his head.

"I don't think the lions can connect with Lance, Hunk, or Keith." Allura took her hand away from her head, looking up with concern at Blue, who had started pacing. "They knew that they had fallen asleep suddenly, but when I asked Blue where they were they all became agitated." Allura took a few steps back, trying to avoid being stepped on by Blue's giant paws.

"I'm trying to ask Black where Keith is and all she keeps giving me are feelings of emptiness." Pidge could hear Shiro gritting his teeth. "We know that Red can follow her paladins halfway across the universe, even if they're unconscious. Something must be severely wrong."

"It's the Druids." Pidge flinched at the name. The Druids had had Matt and Shiro. They had done horrible things to them. Pidge didn't even want to imagine Lance, Hunk, and Keith in their hands. From Allura's tone, she didn't want to either.

"They must have found some way to block their connection to the lions," Allura grit out. Her head snapped up and she took a decisive step forward, stopping Blue in her tracks.

"We have to find them," she said, her voice clearly intended for her lion. Blue didn't even hesitate for a tick before dropping to allow Allura to board her.

"While Matt and Coran are scanning we'll try to find them in the lions," Allura said, her voice firm. Pidge and Shiro nodded consent.

At the statement, however, Red and Yellow became even more agitated. Yellow began lashing her tail, and Red began to pace and growl loudly. Through Green, Pidge understood: they wanted to look, too. It was _their paladins_ who were missing. They wanted to find them. They _hated_ the empty feeling.

"We'll find them," Pidge said, using Green to send her determination through the Voltron bond. "We'll find them and bring them back. I promise."

She felt Red and Yellow's hackles lower slightly, but she knew they still weren't relaxed. She knew they wouldn’t be relaxed until the missing Paladins had been returned, just like the rest of them.

Pidge heard Shiro finish telling Coran and Matt their plan, and the bay doors began to open. Pidge prepared Green for launch, letting her frustration and anger fire the thrusters much more than her fingers. She could feel Green's anger resonating through her. Even though Green was the only one who had all of her paladins (even if Pidge was the only one) she was angry and protective. Lance, Keith, and Hunk were part of her _pride_. Even more than that, they were the three youngest besides Pidge.

Unlike when Shiro went missing, Black was not telling Green to relax. In fact, Black was angry one of her Paladins had been taken. Green would not stand by and let someone take the paladins of her sisters no more than she would let someone take Pidge.

When the doors finally opened an eternity later, Green rocketed out with a speed Pidge had never experienced outside of Red before. But she didn't mind. She and Green were on a mission:

Find Lance, Hunk, and Keith.

They would tear apart the whole universe to accomplish their goal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These first two chapters are really just because I felt like I needed SOME setup before we get into everything. Next chapter is when stuff gets interesting. 
> 
> See you next chapter!


	3. A New Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for being a bit late! The wifi at my dorm is pretty spotty and I also had a hedgehog to wrangle. (His name is Quilliam btw and you can thank Megan and Erin for that.)
> 
> Anyway here's chapter 3!

Lance had absolutely lost track of time. He knew that it had been a few days, but that none of them had been fed. Even though his stomach growled constantly he fought against it. Lance had a feeling he didn't want to know what the food here tasted like, anyway.

All three of them had been taken so many times Lance had lost track of that, too. All he knew was that he we going to have many new scars and so were his teammates. His anger about that had faded into exhaustion long ago, however. It was all he could do to run his fingers through Hunk's hair and keep Keith propped up against him so the blood from his last session didn't have a chance to choke him.

Lance arms shook, though he tried his hardest to steady them. He felt Hunk stir slightly, and Lance willed him to sleep. They needed to rest. It was Lance's turn next and he knew that they would need to be in good enough shape that at least one of them was conscious while he was gone. They had decided awhile back to always have someone on watch.

Lance tried hard not to think about what was waiting for him in the next room. They had started pretty standard, whipping and punching and bruising being their preferred method the first few sessions. Then, when no answers were to be found, they started getting creative. Electrocution, Druid mental attacks, water torture, exposure to burning irons—the Galra had tried it all. Lance had run out of torture ideas long before they did, and from what he had seen the Galra always tried the new torture on him first. 

Trust them to be meticulous and organized about everything.

Lance pulled Hunk and Keith closer, being careful not to disturb their sleep. He was so tired. He wanted to cry. He wanted to crack. He wanted to tell the Galra everything he knew so they would stop hurting his friends. But he couldn't. What Allura and the others had been doing during Lance and Hunk and Keith's excursion to Yamita was necessary for bringing down Lotor. Any of them telling the plan could doom the whole universe. As much as Lance loved his friends and wanted them to be happy and safe and warm, he knew that they all had to stay strong in order to protect the universe.

They had to make sure that every person who had died for their cause had not died in vain.

Lance heard the sentries stop in front of their door, and he felt dread settle in his stomach like lead. He gently shook Hunk, helping him take Keith's weight before the sentry yanked him to his feet. Lance bit down the yelp of pain and let his body fall limp. He'd learned a while ago that it made the sentry's job harder and the more he could fight back the more powerful he felt.

Lance was dragged from the room, his sagging head only catching Keith's exhausted and horrified eyes before the door slammed shut and he was taken to be interrogated.

Again.

* * *

 

"We've been searching for hours now." Shiro tried to hold the weariness back from his voice. "We should head back and regroup."

"No," Pidge said with more force than was really necessary. "You can go back, but I'm not. You and Allura have had to fight to keep your lions under control but I haven't. Green and I have never been more in sync. I'm not done searching."

"Neither are we," Allura said. Shiro winced at her tone. "But searching aimlessly like this will get us nowhere. We need to regroup with Coran, Matt, and Slav so we can come up with a plan of attack."

Pidge was silent. Shiro steeled himself and took a breath, ready to plead with her again, but she cut him off.

"Fine."

The word cut like a knife, sharp and piercing and hot, but the Green Lion turned and began heading towards the Castle. Shiro felt himself relax slightly, though he still felt like he had to keep his grip on the controls tight so Black wouldn't take off.

They lions wanted to search. They wanted to scour the universe and destroy everything that stood in the way between them and their Paladins. Before they had defeated Zarkon, Shiro had known that Black would never take over the controls and force him to go somewhere he didn't want. Even the time he thought she did it had been only an illusion. After he came back, however, Keith had also become her paladin. Black had made it clear to both of them that she would override them if the other was in danger. Until now it hadn't been a problem because Keith had always been piloting Red, the only lion Black would put above herself in line to protect Keith who wasn't Shiro himself. Black wanted desperately to find her other paladin, the other cub she had taken under her wing after she had sent Shiro away to recover.

He could feel the emptiness at having Keith torn from her, and he could feel her unbridled rage beginning to fill the hole. She was  _ angry _ . How  _ dare _ they take her paladin away from her? She would destroy whoever she found responsible.

Shiro was using all of his willpower to keep her on track, to keep her from taking control and destroying any and all planets in her way.

He could only imagine how Red felt.

Not only had one of her paladins been taken, but both, and unlike Black and Blue she had been right there, hovering in the sky, sleeping as her cubs were taken from her. Shiro was surprised she hadn't ripped a hole in the hanger yet.

"Wait!" Pidge's voice cut Shiro’s thoughts off abruptly. "I see a Galra ship!"

"We decided to fall back, Pidge," Shiro reminded her.

"But this could be it!" Shiro could practically see her eyes shining even without the com monitor. "They could be right here and we could save them!"

"The Galra would have moved them as far away as possible by now, Pidge," Allura reminded her. "They're high-profile prisoners. Their ship is probably long gone by now."

"But shouldn't we at least try?!" 

Shiro flinched at the tone in her voice. He understood where she was coming from. She had already lost her father to the Galra because they had bidden their time. She would not let it happen again.

"We don’t even know what type of ship it is," Shiro said, trying to appease her logical side. "It could just be a simple cargo ship with no information that we need."

"Or they could be  _ on it _ ," Pidge ground out again. "The Galra aren't above hiding prisoners in plain sight."

"I think it's best if you all pull back for now," Matt's voice rang clear over the coms. Shiro breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God for Matt. "Coran and I can track it, and we can probably get some of the Blade of Marmora to infiltrate and see what information it holds."

"By the time that happens they could be dead!" Pidge practically screamed.

There it was. Silence echoed as they all let her words sit there.

"Katie-" Matt started.

"No!" Shiro saw a flash of Green to his left, Pidge firing her thrusters to head full speed toward the ship. "I'm not letting it happen! Not again!"

"Pidge! Wait!" Allura called, and Shiro could feel her pushing Blue across the bond. He tried to push Black into action to stop Green, but she wouldn't move.

Black and Blue wanted this. 

They agreed with Pidge.

"No!" Shiro roared, putting all of his will and quintessence behind one order to Black:  _ STOP HER _ .

Black shot forward, though not without some difficulty. There was a loud sound of metal on metal as Black slammed into Green, knocking her off her path and spinning towards a nearby planet.

"Shiro!" Pidge screeched. "No! We have to-!"

"Allura, get a marker on that ship. Don't get spotted." Shiro ignored the twisting and shouting from both Pidge and Black, forcing the two lions down towards the uninhabited planet below. "Matt, get to tracking it. I want all the information we can. Coran, call the Blade."

He felt more than heard the other's words of acknowledgement, his whole mind then taken up by the monumental task of forcing Green and Black into the atmosphere of the large planet.

With all his might he pushed down, down, down, feeling Allura come rocketing after him once she had placed the tracer. He could feel her fighting Blue, but she joined him, the two of their minds syncing to force all three lions to land hard in a desert wasteland. Even after the crash had finished, Allura and Shiro didn't let up. Shiro's hands were shaking and his mind was almost to the limit, but still he pushed Pidge and Green and Black and Blue  _ down _ .

He didn't let up until he knew they would listen.

* * *

 

Lotor watched the video feeds, his long nails tapping at the metal dashboard of the ship in a constant rhythm. Around him, druids and regular soldiers held their breath as they waited for his orders. The purple light from the many monitors cast his face in shadow, his eyes gleaming from the dark.

"Can someone tell me why they haven't broken yet?" Lotor's voice was cold. No one could tell if he was angry or not, but they knew better than to try anything.

"No, my Lord," one of the druids spoke, sensing that silence would only incur the prince's anger. "We have tried every technique that Emperor Zarkon employed in the past but their mental fortitude has not wavered."

"That is because you are thinking like my  _ father _ ," Lotor said, a hint of humor in his voice. "My father always wanted to be efficient. Every prisoner has a place and a purpose. He never realized that some people have to be broken down...specially."

Lotor tapped a few buttons, most of the screens before him fading away so two images could take up the full display. 

"If we wish to accomplish what even the Great Emperor Zarkon could not, then we need to do something he never would have done."

There was a tense silence before one of the guards finally spoke up. "And what would that be, my Lord?"

Lotor turned, his eyes sparkling in the dark. Everyone, including the druids, had to hold themselves back from flinching under his gaze.

"We must examine the maggots beneath our feet," Lotor said simply. He began to stride away, leaving the video feeds playing on a loop. "We must take their strength and turn it against them."

"My Lord?" one of the Druids asked.

Lotor stopped in the doorway, turning on his heel to glance back at the videos again. He smiled, watching the Blue Paladin convulse on the table he was currently strapped to, druid magic ripping him apart from the inside out, before comparing it to the video of the cell where they had all pressed their bodies together against the cold.

"We must find a new way," Lotor said finally, when he felt like he had fully memorized the pain on the paladins’ faces. He would be enjoying more soon. He licked his lips, then turned on his heel.

"I believe I have found it."

The door to the bridge slammed shut with all the finality of a guillotine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I'm sure you've noticed but the timelines aren't quite matching up between the boys and the castle. But its all good. In this world Sam HAS died and I need to address it. Also I hope y'all are ready for some pangst because it is coming in hot.
> 
> Anyway, please come hang with me on Tumblr at Jadencrosss! I need a few beta readers for Soulmates (which is actually the opposite of this lol) so if you're interested hit me up!
> 
> See you next week!


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